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jjmtients, is that faid to have been built for Philupater, of forty tires of rowers. The next to this is that of Ptolomy Philadelphus, which is faid to have had thirty tires; and in thefe there fat more than three thoufand rowers. It has been difputcd by many, whether fuch imroenfe yeflels as thefe were ever built, or ever could be ufed if built. The monftrous heighth they have been calculated to be of, according to the fchemes of the generality of commentators, has rendered it incredible that there ever were any fuch ; but Meibom has found out fuch convenient ways of placing the rowers irt them, and lias taken off (o great a part of this imaginary heighth ne- ceflary in them, that he is clearly of opinion, that there w.-re fuch veffels a&ually built and ufed.
The trircmis, according to the computation of this author, contained two hundred men ; of which one hundred and eighty were rowers, and the reft were mariners : fo that the Athe- nian fleet, of which Conon was commander, confuting of one hundred and eighty triremes, there were in it fix and thir- ty thoufand men. The quinqueremis of thefe times contained four hundred and twenty men, three hundred of whom were rowers, and the reft foldiers ; fo that there are three ftupeii- dous things to be obferved in regard to the Roman fleet at Mefiina, and the Carthaginian at Lilybxum : one is, that the former confifred of three hundred and thirty, and the latter of three hundred and fifty vefiels, moft of which were quinque- remes, which, according to the moft accurate computation, were a hundred and fifty feet long; the number of men they contained was, in the Roman, one hundred and thirty thou- fand, and in the Carthaginian, one hundred and fifty thoufand. Tiie apparatus and provifions neceflary for fuch a numerous hoft, is wonderful in thefe early days of (hipping, and the accounts would be doubted, were they not given by one of the heft of hiftorians, Polybius, who wonders, as indeed he very well may, at fuch an amazing equipage for fea fervice at fuch a time.
"FOLYEIDJE fpbragis, the name of a fort of troches or paftils greatly ufed among the antients. It confifted of alum, four drachms ; myrrh and aloes, of each five drachms ; pomegra- nate-peel, and bull's gall, of each fix drachms : all which were rubbed to fine powder, and made into troches with the bull's gall, mixed with a fuffident quantity of the moft au- ftere wine.
POLYGALA, milkwort^ in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : the flower is of the perfonated kind, confifting of one leaf, not perforated behind, and divided before into two lips ; the upper lip is bifid, and the lower one elegantly fimbriated. The piftil arifes from the lower part of the flower, and ripens at length into a fruit or capfule of a comprefled figure, divided into two cells, and full of oblong feeds. The fruit is ufually found fur rounded with the cup of the flower, which cpnfifts of five leaves, two large and three fmall ones, which clafp round the feed vefTel in the manner of fo many wings.
The fpecies of polygala, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe: J. The great blue-flowered polygala. 2 The great purple-flowered polygala. 3. The great white -flowered poly- gala. 4. The common or (mailer blue -flowered polygala. 5. The common purple- flowered polygala. 6. The common polygala, with white flowers. 7. The painted-leaved milk- wort, with purple flowers. 8. The painted-leaved milkwort, with blue flowers. 9. The narrow-leaved erect annual poly- gala, with dulky-colourcd flowers, variegated with {freaks of pale red. 10. The fhort-lcavcd pointed polygala, n. The little mountain myrtle leaved polygala. 12. The fhrubby Por- tugal milkwort., with very fmall leaves, and large flowers. 1 i, The greater African narrow-leaved fhrubby' ptfygala. 14, The lefier African Qirub-polygala, with very narrow leaves. 15. The flax-leaved American polyga'a, with very large flowers lb. The box-leaved fhrubby African polygala, with very large flowers. 17. The box-lea\ed fhrubby polygala, with yellow flowers, i #. The box-leaved fhrubby milkwort, with purplifh red flowers. Tcurn. Inft. p. 147. The virtues of this plant have been very happily enquired into by the gentlemen of the royal academy of fciences at Paris, on occafion of the trials they made of the virtues of the Senekka rattle-fnake root, recommended by Dr. Tennent; and their judging, that as his was the root of a fpecies of polygala or milkwort, the roots of our common pjygala might poflibly have the fame effects.
Dr. Tennent gives his rattle-fnake root, or Virginian polygala, in the dofe of thirty-five grains in fubftance, or in three or four ounces of a ftrong infufion, or in a yet ftronger, in a pro- portionably fmaller dofe The effects of this root being found very great, it was fuppofed that its place might poflibly be fupplied by this fpecies of our own growth. It is very cer tain, that the place of growth may, in fome plants, make a very great alteration in their virtues ; and that the different fpecies of the fame genus may, in other inftances, produce different effects in the human body, fomc fpecies of plants agreeing in their external forms and generical characters, while they differ in their virtues and qualities,
There appeared on trial a confiderable difference to the tafte between the American and the European poly'gala-roots, that of Virginia being very aromatic, acrid, and bitter, and the Suppl. Vol, il.
European only flightly acrid, with a very feeble bitte'rriefs; Another thing that gave great fufpicion as to the parallel vir- tues of the roots of thefe two fpecies Was, that Gefner was found, in his account of the virtues of the European polygala; to call it a very brifk cathartic; a quality which might ren- der its ufe very improper in many of the difeafes in which Mr. Lemery and juflieu found the Virginian kind to prove a ferviceable medicine. This laft Wa. found always very fpcedily to allay fevers of the pleuretic kind, without increafing in any great degree the difcharges by ftool. The roots of the Europe >n polygala bsingvery fmall and Ren- der, gave alfo fome trouble as to the procuring them in fuffi- cient quantity ; and in hopes it might become a general medi- cine, it was determined to try the effects of the whole plant, root, leaf, and branch, in the difeafe in which the Virginian kind had been given with the greateft fuccefs, that is, in pleu- rifies ; and this was accordingly fairly tried. The principal inftances of their trials were two; the firft to a woman of twenty-two years old, who had a violent fever,; with a fizy blood, and pain in the fide. She was twice blood- ed, and had immediate but not lafting relief from it, and was ordered the common ptifans given on thefe occafions. The malady increafed, and the expectoration was but fmall, and that of a thick yellow matter : a third bleeding finally was judged neceffary, but was of no more fervice than the others ; and after this fhe had the fame ptifah continued, but with the addition of a large quantity of the common European .poly- gala, ftalk, root, and leaf. This took place in two or three hours, the expectoration became vaftly plentiful, and the mat- ter thin and white from being thick and yellow. The wo- man, in fine, was cured, and the medicine was not obferved to occafion any naufea, nor did it prove, as fuppofed, a vio- lent purge.
1 he fecond inftance was in a man of a ftoiit robuft habit, and of twenty-five years of age. He was violently attacked with a pleurify, he was bled feven times, and was brought into one of the hofpitals delirious, and feemingly very near death ; he was there blooded in the foot, which reifored his fenfes ; and he took a large quantity of the deco&ion of the polygala, which caufed him to expectorate in great abundance. The matter was firft blackifh, then reddifh, and finally white, and the patient was perfectly cured. Mem. Acad. Scien. Par. '739-
1 hefe are fuch remarkable inftances of the good effect of an herb to be had every where in our own country, that they feemed very worthy to be recorded. The plant grows with us on dry grounds and heaths- and is about foi r inches long, not erect, but trailing upon the ground : the leaves are long and narrow, of a pale green, and the flowers are large and look beautiful : they ftand in fpikes, and are ufually blue ; but very ofte<; white, and fometimes red. The herb fhould be pulled up root and all for drying. POLYGAMJA, in botany, a clafs of plants, which have a di- verfity of combinations of the male and female parts of their flowers, and many ways of fructification in the fame fpecies; fome having male flowers, others female, each di- ftinct and perfect in its kind; and others mixed, or herma- phrodite, with both male and female organs of frudtification in each. See Tab. I. of Botany, Clafs r. The word is formed of the Greek Krt.d;, many, and y«^o f , marriage.
Among the plants of this clafs are the orach, pellitory of the wall, the afh, is'c. POLYGAMY, (Cyd.) is the marriage of one man to more than one wife, or the marriage of One woman to more than one hufbahd.
The laft of thefe is the greater crime, as being moft incom- patible with the being of fociety, and might therefore be pu- nifhed with greater feverity.
It has been much difputed among the Doctors of the civil law, whether polygamy be adultery. In the Roman law it is called Jluprum, and punifbed as fuch, that is, in fome cafes, capitally. SeeSTUPRUM. But a fmaller punifhment is more confiftent with the Jewilh law, wherein the prohibition of adultery was perpetual, but that of polyga?ny temporary only. SeeSelden, L. 1. c. 9. de uxore Hebraica In Germany, Holland, and Spain, this offence is differently punifhed. By a conftitution of Charles V. it was a capital crime. In England it is felony, by flat. Jac. 1. btjt with be- nefit of clergy. In Scotland it is punifhed as perjury. See the article B;gamv. POLYGLOTTA avis, in zoology, ihe name of a bird de- fcribed by Nierembcrg, and which, he fays, he faw and heard with admiration, finging in all tones. Jt is of the fize of our itarling.
Its back is brown, and its breaft and belly white; and near the neck and tail it is variegated with fpots and ftreaks of white its head has a ftreak of white, which reprefents a fort of crown of filver. it is mightily efteemed, and kept in cages by the Spaniards, as infinitely fuperior to all other birds in nK-Iudy. It feeds on almoft anv thing that is given it, and is moft fond of the warmer climates; but endures the more temperate ones without harm. Ray's Ornithology, p. 305. .
2 Tt POLY-
